


Beware of the dragon!

by Campodesol_2000



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Artist!Steve, Boys Kissing, Casually scraping that Fourth Wall, DragonShapeshifters!AU, F/M, M/M, Mates, Mechanic!Tony, POV Alternating, Sassy!Tony, possessive!Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 07:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14350980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Campodesol_2000/pseuds/Campodesol_2000
Summary: In a world where dragon shifters lived together with ordinary people, Tony's powers weren't as prominent as they should be. Of course they still caused weird looks, but he couldn't be bothered by it. He is thrown out of his house and in need of a job, but decides that he deserves a break when he sees a gorgeous painting on the side of the building and a just as gorgeous man besides it.





	Beware of the dragon!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is the first fic I've posted online and English isn't my first language, so please bear with all my mistakes...
> 
> The idea of this fic came to me while reading another Marvel fanfic with Dragon Shapeshifters. Sadly, I can't remember the author or title anymore. It was a Stucky fanfic and stopped after the first meeting.
> 
> Comments (and kudos) are always appreciated! Have fun reading!

In a world where dragon shifters lived together with ordinary people, Tony's powers weren't as prominent as they should be. He had been able to control fire for as long as he could remember and couldn't be happier that he didn't have to hide anymore. Of course people still gave him weird looks, but he couldn't be bothered by it. After the car accident in which both of his parents were killed, a friend had offered him his couch, but after years of this arrangement, his friend had found a girlfriend and kicked him out (of course, almost setting his house on fire when he had lost control over his powers a couple of times hadn't helped his case). That's why Tony could be found wandering around town in search for a place to spend the night, when he stumbled across a building that was definitely a dragon lair. If he hadn't noticed the sign on top of the building, he would have realised it after seeing the beautiful piece of art on the wall. It showed a blue dragon with his wings spread wide like he was about to attack. Judging by the man gathering all of his paint cans, it had been freshly painted. Thoroughly impressed, Tony walked up to the man.  
   "This is absolutely awesome!" he said as greeting.   
   The man looked up in surprise and smiled at Tony. "Why, thank you."   
   _Holy shit, the man was gorgeous!_ Tony tried to get a hold on himself and when he thought he could speak without stuttering, he pointed to the dragon on the building. "You made this?" he asked. "All by yourself?" The man nodded. "Wow..." Was he mistaken or was that a blush creeping up the man's neck?   
   "Yeah, I did, glad you like it." He hesitated for a moment before speaking up again. "You're not scared of me?"   
   Tony's face scrunched up in confusion. "Scared? Why would I be scared of you?" Of course, the man was big, but it wasn't like he was very intimidating or something...   
   "Well, you know..." The man shrugged helplessly. "Me being half dragon and stuff."   
   "Oh, that. No, I basically grew up around dragon shifters, so it would be a bit inconvenient if I was," Tony said, leaving out the part of him controlling fire for the time being.   
   The man looked relieved and visibly relaxed. "Good. Anyways, I'm Steve."  
   "I'm Tony. So, do you have any more artworks? Like, around town or something?" He looked up at Steve expectantly. _Geez, he must be almost a head taller than me_ , he revelled.   
   Steve laughed. "No, I usually don't do graffiti. I get possessive over my art, which is not a good thing with graffiti, because I can't take it with me without destructing half of a building. I do have some works inside, though. Wanna see some?"   
   Tony's face lit up. "Yeah, I'd love to!"   
   Steve showed him the way inside the building and brought him to some sort of atelier. The walls were covered with paintings and drawings of all kind of things. There were landscaped and sun dawns, but also people, some of whom Tony assumed were Steve's friends. The painting that stood out the most was the one standing in the middle of the room. Steve was clearly still working on it, but you could already see what it was going to be. Another landscape, but from a surprising point of view.   
   "Did you see this when you were flying or something?"   
   "Yeah," Steve said, followed by a long and enthusiastic explanation about all that could be seen on the painting. Steve was clearly passionate about his work and Tony could have listened to his sweet voice forever, but his stomach had other plans.   
   A loud grumble interrupted Steve's monologue and Tony blushed profusely. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be rude..."   
   "Oh, no need to apologize. I should be the one apologizing to you, really. Where were my manners?" He looked at the clock on the wall that told them it was already nearing dinner time. "Would you like to stay for dinner? I mean, if it's not to forward."   
   "Sounds great! So how long have you been painting?" Tony kept the conversation going as they started walking to what he assumed was the kitchen. While they were walking through the hallway, a delicious smell washed over them.   
   "Smells like we're having curry tonight," Steve commented and he opened the door that was keeping them from the food. They walked into a room that seemed to be a living room with an open kitchen.   
   "Steve, finally! We thought we were going to have to drag you over here again!" A loud voice sounded. Tony shot Steve an amused smile. "Wait, who is this? You finally made a friend!" His smile widened even further.   
   "Bucky!" Steve groaned. "Stop embarrassing me."   
   Tony laughed at him and turned to Bucky. He stuck out his hand and introduced himself. "I'm Tony. I saw his work on the side of the building and I couldn't help asking about it, so he showed me some of his works. My stomach, however, decided to rudely interrupt our conversation, so here we are..."   
   "He showed you his paintings?" The man sounded genuinely surprised.   
   "Yeah, why? Is that special or anything?" Tony looked at Steve and caught the almost murderous glance he gave his friend before schooling his features again.  
   "No, never mind," Bucky hurried to say.   
   _Strange_. Tony's stomach grumbled again and Steve and Bucky immediately set to work to prepare dinner. It wasn't long before everyone was sat around the large table. The food was delicious and conversation flowed easily. Whenever someone would dwell over him showing his pictures to Tony, Steve would cut them off and change the subject, but apart from that, everything was normal. At some point, they were all teaching Tony about dragons.   
   "So, are you fire resistant when you're a dragon? And when your human? Can you shift partially?" Tony was a man of science and wanted to know everything.   
   All shifters and mates laughed at his enthusiasm, but answered happily. "Yes, we're fire resistant when we're dragons and in human form as well," a woman, Natasha, answered.   
   "We can shift partially too," Clint, her mate, also a shifter, added, "but controlling it requires practice. Even now, when we get really angry or something, we sometimes can't control it and shift involuntarily."   
   "Aaw, shucks." Tony had one other question, for now. "Do you guys only mate with dragons, or can you mate with humans too?"   
   "What? See something you like, doll?" Bucky smirked.   
   Tony stuck out his tongue at him. "It's called scientific curiosity, not that you would know."   
   "Ouch," Bucky said, clutching his heart in mock pain.   
   In the end, Bruce answered the question for him. "It's perfectly possible to find a human mate. When we find our mate, we feel this really strong pull towards them. It makes us very possessive of that person and we really lose our mind if that feelings aren't reciprocated."   
   "Are there human mates here too?" Tony asked. Sam's hand went up, he turned out to be Bucky's mate.   
   When dinner was finished, Tony grabbed Sam and pulled him towards one of the couches near the TV, where they sat down, drinks in hand. "So, what's it like to be the only human in the entire group?"   
   "It gets a bit lonely sometimes," Sam admitted, "but mostly it's awesome."   
   "Yeah, I bet. Did you feel something like a pull too?"   
   "When I met Bucky?" Tony nodded. "Well, I don't think you feel what shifters feel, but I know I felt like I had known him for ages and I couldn't keep my eyes of him. Bit like how you're acting right now, actually..."   
   Tony noticed his eyes had automatically drifted to Steve, who was laughing at something Bucky had said and directed his attention back to Sam. "Sorry, I didn't catch that last bit, I'm afraid."   
   Sam smirked knowingly. "I said I wouldn't be surprised if you turned out to be Steve's mate with the way you are acting, but you can't be sure without his confirmation."   
   Tony was delighted by the idea of being Steve's mate, but along with that came the nerves. "I really wouldn't mind being his mate, whatever that entails, but what if he doesn't want me? I mean, look at me. Homeless, poor, I've got nothing to offer him."   
   Sam rushed to reassure him. "Believe me, if he is your mate, he'll want you alright. He won't be able to keep his eyes off you, and not just his eyes for that matter..." Though Sam knew it wouldn't really calm Tony's nerves, he decided to focus on something else the man had said. "You said you're homeless? How did that happen?"   
   "I don't really wanna talk about it," Tony said.   
   Sam nodded in understanding. "Alright, but I still want to offer you a place to sleep. We have enough room, so if you want, you can stay here for a while?"   
   Tony almost choked on his drink when he heard that. Steve looked over to them worriedly, but Sam gestured they were fine. He still didn't seem entirely convinced, but went back to his conversation with Bucky anyway. "You would really let me stay here?" Tony sputtered when he could breath normally again.   
   "Yes, of course," Sam said, as if it was the most obvious thing to do. "Wait, let me ask the guys.” He turned to the kitchen. “Bucky, Steve, is it okay if Tony stays here for awhile?"   
   Now, was Tony imagining things or did Steve eyes widen at that?   
   "Yeah, sure," Bucky told him, "as long as he wants. We can work out some arrangement tomorrow."   
   Steve beamed at Tony and started talking animatedly with Bucky, though he didn't turn away from Tony yet.   
   Sam smirked again. "See?" was all he said. Tony didn't know whether that was about Steve's reaction or him sleeping in the dragons' lair.

Steve smiled at Tony and turned to Bucky. "You're letting him sleep here?"   
   "Yeah, he seems like a nice guy and if I didn't know better I would think you've got the hots for him." Bucky looked him over. "You don't, do you?"   
   "Well..." Steve looked away uncomfortably.   
   "What?! No kidding, I thought you were into girls?"   
   Steve's eyes widened at the volume with which Bucky was speaking. "Ssst, keep it down, will you? I thought so too, but when I saw him outside today, I think I felt the pull everyone is always talking about. It was everything I could do not to instantly jump him."   
   Bucky grinned widely. "Guess that means you're one of us now, huh? What'cha gonna do about it?"   
   "I don't know... I can't just go up there and keep him in my room forever? What if he freaks out when he hears he is probably my mate?"   
   Bucky looked over thoughtfully to where Tony and Sam were talking. "It could be me, but I don't think he will. He took everything remarkably well during dinner and only seemed curious about the idea of having a mate. Maybe you shouldn't bring it up now, you know, get to know each other first, but I think you've got a real shot. Besides, he's got Sam to guide him through too."   
   Steve thought it over and calmed down a bit. "I guess you're right..." he sighed.   
   "Of course I'm right," Bucky smirked. "How about we watch a movie and you subtly snuggle up with him, check out his reaction?"   
   Steve smiled mischievously. "Alright, operation Tony can begin!" He turned to face the living room. "Hey guys, wanna watch a movie?" Noises of agreement sounded through the room and it wasn't long before they had all joined Sam and Tony in front of the TV. Clint and Natasha had claimed the loveseat for themselves and Bruce had made himself comfortable in a plushy chair. Bucky had sat down on the left side of Sam and Steve had nonchalantly taken his seat on the right side of Tony. Or at least, he had tried, though he had probably looked more like a whale out of the water. They all decided on watching Deadpool and Spiderman. Half an hour in, Steve put his arm on the back of the couch and was delighted to see Tony leaned into his side immediately. Experimentally, he curled his arm around Tony's shoulder and when he didn't pull away, Steve left it there for the rest of the evening. He whispered commentary in Tony's ear and every once in awhile, Tony couldn't keep in his laughter and Steve smiled at him adoringly. By the time both movies had ended, the usual heated discussion was started again, even though it was already past midnight.   
   "I still think Deadpool and Spidey should get a rom com together," Bruce stated.   
   "What? No!" Natasha chimed in. "That's ridiculous, you can't cross to completely separate movies."   
   Steve saw Tony taking in all the arguments and decided to join the conversation for once. "Why not? If they made movies about our backstories, why shouldn't we be put together to make a movie about our group?"   
   Natasha seemed scandalised. "Steve! You finally speak up and now you side with Bruce, how dare you!"   
   Steve laughed at the passion the words were spoken with and Tony joined him. "Personally, I agree with Steve," Tony said. "Deadpool would totally spoil Spidey to death."   
   Natasha apparently decided she wasn't going to win this round, so she grabbed Clint and started going to their bedroom. "Pff, whatever..." were the last words that could be heard before they disappeared through the door, Clint smiling sheepishly.   
   "Ha, we definitely won that round!" Bruce stood too and said goodbye.   
   Now only Sam, Bucky, Tony and Steve were left. "Come on," Steve told Tony, "we have to make you a bed. You can sleep in the spare bedroom for now. That okay with you?"  
   "Yes, of course," Tony said, but did he sound a bit disappointed? The group rose and made their way to the bedrooms.   
   Steve grabbed some bedclothes and one of his pyjamas and showed Tony his room. "I don't have work tomorrow, but I'm an early riser, so I'll probably be around the lair somewhere. If I'm not in the living room, I'm probably in my atelier. Well, good night," Steve told Tony, a bit unsure of what to do now.   
   Tony, however, just smiled at him. "Bye Steve," was all he said before softly closing the door.   
   After a few seconds, Steve turned around and sighed wistfully. "Christ, I'm so done for," he said to no-one in particular.   
   Bucky and Sam exchanged looks knowingly and walked to their bedroom. Steve spent the night dreaming about his mate. In the morning, he was up before dawn and after a small breakfast he went to his atelier. Though he knew he should finish the landscape first, he couldn't help but sketch his new muse from all angles he could remember seeing yesterday. It started out a bit rusty, but it wasn't long before you could recognize Tony's features in the quick drawings. He was so concentrated on his drawings he didn't notice how much time had passed until he heard noises coming from the kitchen. Reluctantly, he put away his drawings. He really wanted to stay in his atelier and continue drawing, but if that was Tony waking up, he thought he had to be there to help him around. He took one last look at his paintings and felt butterflies in his stomach. _Geez, what are you, a schoolgirl? Get yourself together man!_ By the time he reached the kitchen, his body had calmed down again and he confidently stepped into the room. He ignored the pull that had only strengthened since yesterday and went to make his own breakfast when he saw someone had already helped Tony.   
   "Hey Steve, sleep well?" Tony asked.   
   "Yeah, I was up before sunrise though. I went to draw a bit."   
   "Did you continue with the unfinished painting?" Tony seemed genuinely curious and Steve felt the butterflies again.   
   "No, I drew some sketches of the human body." Tony's, but that wasn't important for now.   
   "Oh cool, can I see them sometime?" _Shit_. What was he going to do now? Alright, think calmly. This could actually be a good thing. Maybe he could break the news with Tony that he was probably Steve's mate. Tony smile slid of his face at the pause before Steve's answer. "I can understand if you don't want to show them, it was just an idea..."   
   _Double shit._ Just the thing for him to do, give him the wrong idea. He hurried to reassure Tony. "No, yes of course. You can see them. I just want to work a bit more on them. I can show them this afternoon?"   
   Relieve crossed Tony's features and Steve could breathe normally again. "Yeah, sure. I understand. I really can't show my designs or plans to anyone before I'm completely content with the outcome."   
   "You draw too?" Steve asked, surprised that he hadn't mentioned it before.   
   "Yeah, but mostly designs of things I would build if I had a workshop and all sorts of materials. I absolutely love science and simply trying to improve products."   
   "We should be able to get you a workshop, right?" Steve looked at Bucky for confirmation.   
   Bucky nodded. "As you see, we have a pretty big building, so that shouldn't be so hard."   
   Tony's eyes lit up with enthusiasm. "That would be awesome! Thanks guys, that's so nice of you all."   
   "Does that mean you'll live here too? I mean, I thought you mentioned you didn't have anywhere to go and we would be glad to offer you a room?" Steve asked hopefully. He saw Bucky smirking at his tone, but chose to ignore it for the time being. He would smack his friend on the head later.   
   "Sounds great."   
   "Good. Since we've established that, I'm going back to my paintings. See you guys at lunch." Steve grabbed his breakfast and waved at his friends. He immediately set to drawing Tony again and only every once in awhile remembered to eat a bite. By lunchtime, he had drawn a full body sketch of Tony working in a workshop. At least, how he imagined he would look like, since he had never seen Tony in a workshop. Content with his work, he cleaned up his pencils and went to have lunch.

After Steve had left, Tony had spent the morning decorating the guest room, now his room, and finding a place for his new workshop. He knew he was going to need a job to be able to pay for all the materials, but he would look into that another time. He felt restless, not being in the same room, but tried to ignore the feeling, as Steve hadn't mentioned anything about a pull. Not yesterday, not this morning... Tony had already resigned himself to the fact that his feelings were completely one-sided. When it was almost time for lunch, he put away the plans for his workshop and walked to the kitchen, where he already found everyone, except for Steve.  
   "Hey, where's Steve?" he said as greeting.   
   "Well, hello to you too," Sam said.   
   Tony waved this away.   
   "Steve hasn't come out of his lab yet, but he'll be here soon."   
   "Alright then." Tony walked up to the cooking island, unsure of what to do with himself.   
   Bucky saw his insecurity and walked up to him. "Hey, wanna know a secret?" he said, leaning in to Tony closely.   
   Steve trusted Bucky, so Tony did too, but he would have been a bit more comfortable with a little space between them. Nevertheless, he let it slide and nodded in confirmation curiously.   
   "I think Steve has a crush on someone," Bucky whispered conspiratorially.   
   Tony felt his heart sink into his stomach, but before he could answer, he was suddenly yanked away from Bucky. He heard growling coming from behind his back.   
   "Stay away from him," the voice growled, “he's MINE!"   
   Everyone present in the room slowly backed away, as if they all knew how to best handle a situation like this. Suddenly, Tony realised what must be going on and he couldn't help but feel irritated. "What the hell, Steve?!" He said, squirming to turn around in the tight hold.   
   Steve seemed a bit taken aback by his words and loosened his arms a bit.   
   "Even though I don't object to that in any way, shouldn't we at least talk about it first?" It didn't seem to have the effect Tony wanted, because there was still anger smoldering in the eyes of the partially shifted dragon. "There's no need to get so possessive, 'cause Bucky here was not trying to steal me from you or anything, were you now Bucky?" Tony said, with a stern look at Bucky, who hastily shook his head. "Besides, even if he was trying to steal me, it wouldn't work. You see, I'm not interested in him, I'm interested in you. So please Steve, calm down." He placed his hands on either side of Steve's face and let fire seep from his fingers. Tony heard multiple gasps coming from around the room, be he paid them no mind. There would be time to explain things later. He let the fire take over his eyes like it did with Steve's and slowly, he helped Steve turn back to normal. When Steve could breathe normally again, Tony stopped the flow of fire entirely and leaned his head against Steve's shoulder. "Now, isn't that better?"   
   "Very much so, thank you Tony." Steve immediately offered an apology. "I'm so sorry, but when I saw Bucky standing so close to you, I just couldn't control myself anymore. I got so angry and had to keep you away from him..."   
   "That's okay, I understand. I think. Does this mean we're mates?" Tony couldn't keep the giddiness out of his voice.   
   Steve smiled at him with an adoring look in his eyes. "Yes, it does. At least, if you still want me after this?"   
   "Hell yeah! You won't get rid of me so easily, soldier, just you wait and see."   
   "Oh, I was counting on it," was all Steve said before leaning down and kissing Tony gently on the lips. As much as Tony wanted to stay in Steve's arms forever, they were reminded of their audience when Natasha coughed emphatically. Tony placed one last kiss on Steve's lips and turned around, only to be faced with five awestruck faces. Sam was the first to speak up. "How did you do that, man?"   
   "The fire thing? I don't know, I've h-"   
   Sam interrupted him. "No, not the fire thing. That was awesome, by the way, but not what I was talking about."   
   "What Sam is talking about," Bucky continued, "is the fact that you were able to calm Steve down in one minute or something. In his state, it would have taken us hours to get him to return to his human form..."   
   Tony was at a loss for words. "I don't... I really don't know. I just did what came natural to me and apparently it worked, but what it was that helped?" Tony shrugged.   
   "Well, at least we know what to do now." Natasha said, and with that the subject was closed.   
   "Now, about the fire thing," Clint said, "care to enlighten us?"   
   Tony smirked, deciding to make a little presentation out of this. "Of course," he said, and as he continued his speech, he set himself on fire, inch after inch, starting on his hands, going down to his feet. "I've been able to control fire for as long as I can remember, actually. I have set fire to more than one bed, and at some point we had to move because I had lost my temper." Snickers could be heard at that. "I can use it as some sort of internal heater, I can warm up things I'm touching and, as you can see, I'm not hurt by flames."   
   "Sounds like a good thing to me, now that you're mated to a dragon," Steve said, placing a kiss a the back of his neck.   
   "Yes, it is. I'm sorry Sam," Tony said, "I'm afraid you're still the only one here who has to be aware of the dragons."


End file.
